EDMONTON — As longtime roommates on the road, Kevin Bieksa and Ryan Kesler had a routine and it went something like this:

Bieksa was always up first and would hit the shower, then head downstairs to order breakfast. Not just for himself, but for Kesler as well.

So when Kesler walked into the hotel restaurant each morning after his shower, his breakfast was on the table waiting for him.

“We had a great routine going there,” Bieksa says, almost wistfully. “He got oatmeal with a side of berries. We both basically got the same thing, the only difference was I’d get rye toast and he’d get wheat toast. He would like orange juice and water. I’d like orange juice and coffee.”

Sadly, those days are over now. Kesler has to order his own breakfast.

“I kind of miss it,” he said right after finishing breakfast Tuesday in the Canucks’ Edmonton hotel.

The players made some concessions in the latest collective bargaining agreement that was hammered out after a lengthy lockout. But one of their wins was a stipulation that all players, except the young greenhorns on entry-level deals, get their own rooms on the road. Previously, that luxury was only afforded to players with 10 years in the league or 600 games, as well as goaltenders.

“It figures it finally comes along when I am less than two seasons away from actually earning it,” laughs Canucks winger Chris Higgins. “I wasn’t too psyched about that. I’d like to see the younger guys earning it a little bit more, but maybe that’s only because I’m in the position I’m in.”

As much as they are enjoying their new single digs, there are things that some of the players miss.

Alex Burrows, for example, misses his alarm clock, otherwise known as Mason Raymond.

The two Canuck forwards were roomies for the past three or four years and Burrows says Raymond saved him from being late for many team buses and meetings.

“Mason’s a farm boy and I’m more of a city kind of guy who likes to go to bed a little bit later and get up a little bit later, where he likes to go to bed pretty early and wakes up at the crack of dawn,” Burrows says. “We had some moments on days off when I’d like to sleep in at least past 9 o’clock and he’s up at 7:30 and he’s ready to go and saying, ‘let’s go for breakfast right away’ and I am still feeling tired from the night before.”

Without Raymond to rely on, Burrows has had to make some adjustments.

“Mason was my alarm clock,” he says. “You could never be late for anything. We’d always be early for meetings or the bus. Now I have to make sure I’ve got a wakeup call set up, I’ve got my phone set up, I even have my wife sometimes calling me to make sure I don’t miss a meeting or something.”

Raymond smiles when Burrows’ comments are relayed to him.

“I was definitely always up before him and we would always have some good jokes,” he says. “I would have to open the blinds on him or something to get him out of bed. He would sleep ’til noon if he could.”

The fact that pro athletes, many of them making millions of dollars a year, shared rooms on the road always seemed a tad strange. But having a roomie was just part of the life of a hockey player, something that started back in their junior days.

Finding a good roommate was almost as important as having a reliable linemate or defensive partner on the ice. There were some simple rules to follow.

“They don’t snore, that’s probably the biggest thing,” says Dan Hamhuis, who spent the past couple of seasons rooming with fellow defenceman Alex Edler. “And the second thing is just being on the same schedule, you fall asleep around the same time, wake from your naps at the same time. That’s a big part of it and then, of course, just having a guy you get along with.”

Higgins acknowledges he has not always been a good roommate. It’s not that he snores, but he has been known to sleep-walk. He spooked former New York Ranger teammate Marc Staal so badly that they only lasted as roomies for one night.

“Everyone has got a couple of bad stories,” Higgins says. “I’ve probably been the bad one for some guys. I have scared a couple of guys sleep-walking. I remember my first road trip in New York I started sleep-walking and I was rooming with Mark Staal and that was the end of that. One night. I never roomed with him again.”

Most of the Canucks acknowledge they are enjoying their new ‘single’ life. Even the Sedins, who have always seemed inseparable and have roomed together since breaking into the league in 2000.

“It’s nice that you can be on your own schedule and sleep whenever you want and not get disturbed by a guy who wants to watch TV or stuff like that,” says Daniel.

But Daniel also hinted that he and Henrik might be roomies again in the not too distant future.

“We might go back next year.”

None of their teammates figure to follow suit.

“It’s nice just being on your own schedule,” says Hamhuis. “When you’re tired you can go to sleep and don’t have to worry about the TV being on or having to leave lights on or turn them off. It’s nice to cater to your own needs. As an older guy, I enjoy it. If you want to Skype with your kids or something it’s nice to have that privacy.”

Still, the new road perk has been an adjustment.

“You know what, it’s lonely at times, for sure,” Bieksa says. “But we kind of made a little bit of a pact among the D-men that we watch out for each other and we have already met in each other’s rooms a bunch of times just to kind of keep that contact, just little hot stoves to get together and discuss things so you are not sitting in your room by yourself all night.”

And if that sounds a little like a defensive slumber party, you’d best not mention it to defenceman Keith Ballard.

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